


Isn't it the same thing?

by angeldustjolie



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: A little bit of drama and anguish but very little, Aurora is pregnant (again), Damn book, Diaval and Maleficent have a confused relationship, F/M, Maleficent has doubts, Phillip (Mentioned) - Freeform, Romance, That's after MOE, a little cliche, do you know the difference?, i'm brazilian and i don't know fluent english so there may be confusion but i swear i tried hard, if you know can you explain to maleficent please?, maleval
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:00:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29145573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeldustjolie/pseuds/angeldustjolie
Summary: Maleficent never really thought much about the meaning of complicated feelings. For her some things are simple, and those that are not, and there is no need to complicate them further.However, after a visit to Aurora, a very interesting question came up at an incredibly opportune time; What is the difference between Love and Being In Love, anyway?
Relationships: Aurora & Maleficent (Disney), Diaval & Maleficent (Disney), Diaval/Maleficent (Disney)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	Isn't it the same thing?

**Author's Note:**

> I had already written this a long time ago, but I decided to reform and translate. I just liked the plot, even though it was a short thing.  
> Oh, by the way, I realized that I only work with stories from just one chapter. What do you think if i start a story with more chapters? I wonder if I could, but I already have some projects.
> 
> Maybe some news will come soon?

Half a year had passed after the marriage of Aurora and Phillip, a feat that brought two rival kingdoms together in a historic settlement. After of union, the kingdoms were partying for more than a week, with music and dancing everywhere, especially now with the fairies joining the humans and both sharing their cultures while the friendship and peace tried to solidify between them. Now, finally, the Moors and Ulsted were one.

But that was not all. After the wedding, Maleficent and Diaval were at the castle with Aurora and Phillip for a few long weeks at their request. It was a good way to gradually get used to the family having grown. A good period, except for Maleficent's difficulty in settling in a palace with thick and high walls, and the servants getting used to it. - Remember that the last time she was there.

Even so, Maleficent resuming her role as guardian of the Moors and having all her people by her side as she had never imagined, she still felt somewhat out of sync with the Feys. It was clear that she was different from everyone in many ways, except that now, after all, everyone treated her with great respect. Most, among them the most traditional, and the young, always bowed down in the presence of Maleficent, as if she were a queen, like a Goddess. - (It wasn't exactly that way, she was more of a Legend, and now she was the mother of the species. But it caught her totally off guard and she still saw herself as just an ordinary, antisocial fairy. Extremely strong, but ordinary.)

Maleficent felt lonely and misunderstood, with an absurd responsibility in her hands again without knowing if she would be prepared for this. No one seemed to understand and see with the eyes that she really wanted besides her daughter, except someone; Diaval.  
Her servant, and besides, her best friend was the only being who seemed to see her with the broadest and purest vision she could ever want. He seemed to know exactly what she meant without her even moving. Even if she hated to admit it, that bird with no particular details was very important to her and Aurora. This was his little family. And that was all she really needed.

Over time, Maleficent and Diaval became more and more intimate. She began to need him much more after taking up the new post, whether for favors, advice she rarely heard, simple conversations and even decorating her wings. He became her safe haven, and for the first time she trusted someone like that again. She loved him with all the rest of her heart, and that 'rest' seemed to be much, much greater than it was before.  
When under a beautiful apple tree, while eating some freshly picked red fruits at breakfast, Diaval confessed his feelings for Maleficent.  
That was a bomb, and she could see that he was completely nervous, anxious and restless. Those words went through Maleficent's body like a real arrow, she was already deeply attracted to him, but in that moment she felt like the most happy fairy in the world. Probably redder than the strawberry in her hands, she smiled full of fangs, showing for the first time her imperfect vulnerability. Diaval loved it. She was not a villain, and her feelings were reciprocated, even though there had been nothing until then but a few pecks on the backs of her hands, they did not define something to become.

Still, it was perfect.

That until some doubts started to prowl the horns of the fairy.

━─━───────────────━─━

It was late afternoon at the castle. Maleficent had gone alone in the morning to help Aurora in some preparations for the baby layette she was expecting, this because the queen had discovered that she was expecting a baby shortly after their wedding.  
Diaval offered to go with her, but Maleficent refused his company because she wanted a special time with his daughter, as they had not for a long time. He understood.  
Both were in the big palace library. Aurora rummaged through the bookshelves for books about motherhood, she needed to be prepared, but there were so many books that it generated a certain despair if she found what she was looking for. Maleficent, on the other hand, looked only at the bottom shelves.

"Did you find anything, Mom?" Asked Aurora, uneasy after not getting so many results.

"Hmn-Hmn " she murmured, " Nothing. "

Maleficent had some books in his skinny arms but only to get them out of the way of looking deeper on the shelf.  
After a quick turn, a soft book with a red cover slipped from the fairy's hands, who mumbled a string of curses. Bending down to pick it up, when he noticed better, Maleficent realized that his title was' Love and Passion. '  
She frowned in confusion that she didn't understand. They should be synonymous, right?  
The dark fey leafed through it as if he were indifferent to the book, but after sliding his eyes over the first two paragraphs she became more intrigued when she discovered it was not a story, but a book that should ease doubts, and for some reason only gave to her more questions.

"Isn't it the same thing?"

Aurora came down the stairs, confused "What, mom?"

And only then did she realize that her thoughts were a little too loud. In disguise, Maleficent began to stack the books on the shelf again, pretending not to have heard the girl. However, she was too smart, and before Maleficent could put the book back Aurora took it from her hands.

"What do you have there, uh?" Asked the young queen, starting to leaf through the book. Maleficent felt the blood boil after receiving a suspicious look. She tried to take the book, but Aurora dodged his arms easily. 

"Don't look at me like that, it's nothing, just slipped." She grunted, feigning indifference, but Aurora ignored her.

"The pretty bird has stirred your thoughts a lot, hasn't it?" She laughed, delighted that her pale mother was as red as a pepper. And then, Aurora held up the book. - "Do you want to know the difference?"

She was quiet for a moment. Did Aurora know the difference? When?  
Well, perfect sense. She was already a married girl, and in terms of dating and love Maleficent was a true laywoman. She abandoned it a long time ago, so now she was taking her first steps as a teenager.

She hated it, because she felt foolish.

For a brief moment, she put her hands together in a nervous bond around the staff, as if she didn't know where to put them. - "... I'm not interested at all."

"Yes, you are. And, don't roll your eyes."

And yes, she rolled her eyes.  
Seeing that her mother did not deny it, Aurora laughed and sat down in an armchair nearby.  
Maleficent stood upright.

"Well," began Aurora. "When you're In Love with someone, it's suffocating. It's not bad, it's actually very good, you know, you feel the need to have that person around all the time. His company looks addictive, and you keep thinking about him all the time. Even the defects seem to be beautiful in him, and everything is so magical and desperate ... However, the passion is fleeting. It can become Love later, or simply disappear as a phase. "

Maleficent remained attentive to the daughter's speech, which continued.

"But when you Love someone, it is something much deeper and longer. You do not feel despair for the person, because you know that he will not run away from you. It is calm, pure, true. Acceptance, respect, understanding, I think this is what we call love. "

Aurora's bright smile lit up the room, this would be clearly perceived by Maleficent if she were not overshadowing that happiness with dark thoughts.  
Diaval seemed to be exactly like the first explanation. He was always surrounding her, praising her, and admiring her as if she were the only being on the face of the Earth. He was always desperate for her touch and affection, and he wanted Maleficent even if it was to to discuss with him. He needed her.  
She, on the other hand, had no need to have him around at all times. Not because she didn't like it, but because she knew she had her own space and that even far away he was always present in her thoughts. She was not desperate, she liked what they had today.

Soon, Maleficent loved him. But he was just ... in love with her? Passion?  
Would he leave her?

"So?" She asked, sitting in the chair opposite Aurora for a moment, suddenly feeling her legs too weak.

"Passion is not to see the other's defects. Love is to see the defects, and to love him anyway."

" And this may not last long ?"

"You can be in love for three weeks, or three years. It depends a lot, but it always ends. Either to disappear, or to evolve."

This terrified her deeply.

━─━───────────────━─━

It was already night in Moors, the moon bathed the sparkles of fireflies and fairies in the trees. It was a beautiful Earth regardless of the time of day, in fact, enchanting. 

The icy breeze stirred some leaves of weeping willows near a small river in the very center of the place. Diaval was resting on a rock, his feathers fluffy while he was enchanted by the beauty of the place, his eyes agitated following the lights that almost rocked him in a heavy sleep. It was like a lullaby with no sound.

He closed his eyes and thought about how lucky he was. Most ravens are born like ravens, breed like ravens, die like ravens. But he was born as a raven, and he never stopped being one, he just became something else. He felt to fly just running like a horse, the fire of a dragon building in his stomach, the claws of a bear breaking wood, and even though he hated to admit it, the vibration of his voice howling like a wolf.

Diaval felt a man's heart.

He knew the strongest ray of light that ever set foot on Earth, and as his daughter. He met the most beautiful fairy that could exist, the most powerful, the one who balanced an elegant and wild soul.

And he couldn't be happier.

It didn't take long for that breeze to become an intense gale. Diaval fixed his claws tightly on the stone so as not to be thrown away by the pressure. Probably millions of his feathers were being thrown everywhere, and he would be a mess to receive his Mistress. Her small body shook violently in the cold.

When she landed quickly, she turned him into a man and there he was all disheveled with his butt against a hard and uncomfortable stone. Maleficent was there, face to face with Diaval. While he had a receptive and silly smile on his lips, she was serious and removed the cloak that held her hair, releasing the chocolate strands after an entire day firmly attached to her head; threads so smooth and thin that they covered her face gently when the breeze hit her horizontally once again.

It was autumn.

Diaval rushed over to her, not caring when she noticed his dark circles. He was exhausted. Probably waiting for her all day, even though she had passed his bedtime. She arrived later on purpose so as not to find him awake, but he resisted.

It made the fairy's heart ache more.

"Mistress! You are here! How was it at the palace? Did Aurora send something to this old bird?" He joked.

She studied him a little stiffly. " Hello. "

" Did something happen? "

How had he noticed? She didn't even give a sign, just was acting as usual.  
Damn decades of coexistence.

"It's okay. Don't worry."

He stared at the grass, kicking some dirt aside. "Miss. I know when you lie."

... Right. This was scary.

"I had a conversation with Aurora today."

Diaval looked up, confused by the tone of her voice. " Conversation? "

"Yes," she was embarrassed, but don't moved. "I need to know something."

"Anything you want, Mistress."

"Do you love me, or are you in love with me?"

Diaval froze for an instant.  
Maleficent was too direct, and her expression had turned into a half-closed look and her lips pursed, she probably didn't even know she did that face when she was suspicious, but it was adorable. However, Diaval noticed her frustration and it would be unwise to say that she looked adorable now.

"What?"

"You ... have your freedom. You know that."

And suddenly he understood everything.

'... I need to protect you from the world. ' He thought. And then he wanted took her shoulders without being invasive, he wanted hug and kiss her, but he didn't do that, and Maleficent was still watching him.

Confused, he asked. " Why this now? "

"Ahm ... Well ..." She clasped her hands again around the staff, and more hair covered her vision, but Diaval waited. "Aurora told me that when you love someone, it's forever, but when you're In Love, it can end and ... You look ... Being in love. You know. The 'symptoms'."

"Mistress, if there was a disease that made me want to always be with you, I will never want to be cured."

Maleficent rolled his eyes at the silly comment. He would make jokes even now, she should have guessed. However, a small part of her was happy about it, as it relieved the tension.

"I ... I don't understand these complicated human feelings." Diaval confessed. "I spent part of my life just being a raven that eats worms and ..."

" Disgusting. "

He ignored her. "And run away from hunters. I didn't want to die, but after meeting you, I finally understood that it was there that I was reborn-

"Don't start rambling."

"Are you going to let me talk?"

"Now, I have serious doubts."

"What I mean is that I love you! I love you so much, that I fall in love with you again and again every day, as if it were the first time."

Maleficent clicked his tongue, and suddenly she felt too small. Of course, he wouldn't do that to her. He's Diaval. How could she suspect him, then? He was not human, he never would be.

"Even though I am bad?" She whispered. "An evil, spiteful fairy who committed all the atrocities? Don't you see that in me, Diaval?"

"You are nothing like that. You have flaws, I see." He took a step forward. "I not only see it, but I am here every day watching you change your defects as well. I do not see your pain and bitterness as you entirely. I see you being yourself. And to me you are the most gentle, strong, protective and stubborn that I know. "

Maleficent could not contain the smile that slipped from her lips. Her eyes found what her heart wanted, the dark of her raven's ocean-iris. 

"I love you Maleficent. I will never abandon you as long as I live. I prefer death to not seeing your smile anymore, especially if I'm the reason your smile exists."

"Asshole."

He smiled, and she appreciated the gesture, grateful for that moment.

And then everything would be fine, because now she knew that Diaval would not abandon her. Everything would be fine because he loved her.  
And she loved him too.

So another cold autumn night has passed in The Moorfolk.

**Author's Note:**

> You know, one day three years ago i was in a Spanish class and my teacher asked me about the difference between Love and Passion. 
> 
> And it just didn't leave me alone for long.  
> I questioned, questioned, and finally came to this conclusion. Many people say "I love you" in a very hasty way, and I don't blame them for that, I just think they don't know what they say or what they really feel, why we are created with the idea that anything is love.  
> Love is something very strong and deep. And this is a personal opinion, but I think it is important for people to know what they want to say and for whom they need to say it, because sometimes they are not the right person, or the right feeling, or the right time. I imagined how much it could terrify someone like Maleficent, and everything just flowed like magic.


End file.
